(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sun 30 November 2025 18:00, UK
Don Felder was never exactly a stranger to working with great musicians.
Although anyone would have been shaking in their boots to be with any member of Eagles, Felder could hold his own from the minute that he turned up at the studio when they needed a guitar solo for ‘Already Gone’. But outside of being one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Felder always made sure to surround himself with people that were good in their own respective fields.
Before he had even started working on his own licks, though, he already had a high bar to reach. Although someone who gave Tom Petty guitar lessons would have been bragging about it for the rest of their lives, Felder was far more in tune with what was going on with people like the Allman Brothers Band. Anyone with a pulse was going to be moved by what Duane Allman played, but Felder was more interested in what kind of emotion he could get out of the guitar rather than the raw musicianship.
He figured that all rock and rollers had the potential to move people like that, but there’s something to be said for the kind of band that comes together just to have some fun. The Traveling Wilburys never went into the studio planning to have hit records, and even when looking at the greatest members of the session scene, Felder could see that they were always about getting the sounds they loved to hear.
It’s not like the session scene was lacking in taste, either. You have to remember that Toto were the seasoned veterans who helped bring Michael Jackson’s Thriller to life, but before there were people like Steve Lukather delivering a guitar clinic whenever he played, there were people like The Doobie Brothers paving the way for what could be done with a bunch of huge riffs and some decent harmonies.
Although a lot of people are divided over Michael McDonald’s voice half the time, it’s not like it isn’t distinctive. Sure, it’s easy to clown on it for being a little too melodramatic in places, but as far as Felder was concerned, the only thing that mattered was whether they sounded good, and hits like ‘What A Fool Believes’ were all the proof he needed to know that he was working with true professionals.
Even years on from Eagles, Felder knew that the band was in a whole different league, saying, “I’ve known the Doobies for decades. And I have to say that they are some of the nicest, most talented guys in the business. There’s no ego, there’s no drama, there’s no attitude – just really nice, great musicians. And it’s a pleasure for me to work with them. The way everything worked together – the personal contract, everything was really very mellow, very easy to work with. And I’m really looking forward to a similar experience coming up here this week.”
And if you know anything about Felder, it’s usually about him knowing a thing or two about bad contracts. He had always run into issues with the other members of Eagles whenever laying down his classic tunes, so now that he was out there playing with a bunch of friends, it must have felt good knowing that he was treated as an equal rather than some random hired gun half the time.
Because even for a band with chops like that, the rule of the music business isn’t always about who can play the best all the time. It’s about those that are easy to work with, and as long as Felder was going around the world with the Doobies, he knew that every show was going to be a blast.
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